


rest

by fyrefist



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 05:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16469435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fyrefist/pseuds/fyrefist
Summary: When you’re told your dream is put on hold and that you’re waiting for yes’s and working for a maybe, it takes strength to keep going.





	rest

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: at the zoo

When they got to the zoo, the place was desolate. The coming winter was too cold for families to conveniently go out and see the animals and the calendar hadn’t flipped close enough to the end of the year for many students to be out.

“We need some fresh air,” Minji said some days ago. “A fun little excursion!”

They came early in the morning, right at the opening time when Bora nagged them about having to line up behind a crowd of five hundred. If it weren’t for a guy in uniform by the gate as well as another group of friends, the place might as well be closed.

“This is depressing,” Siyeon had bitten out. Yoohyeon thought the same but was willing to give the place a try. Mostly for Minji, who tried hard to lift their spirits.

A good two and a half weeks ago, they’d been told they weren’t going to have any schedules until _the closest foreseeable future_. Their manager bore the news the next day, apprehensive, that MINX would no longer continue.

All Yoohyeon recalls after that is hours and hours of League at the cafe with Siyeon and catching up on sleep lost working.

Until Minji had figured they were given enough space to figure everything out, she dragged them back to the dorm and scheduled a trip to the zoo for all of them.

Yoohyeon thinks it’s sweet of her, even though only Bora is any form of enthusiastic about it.

When they got their wristbands sorted they split because Bora desperately wanted to see the elephants - “there aren’t any _people_ that I have to step on to see them now!” - and by default Siyeon had to go with her. Minji was unsure of who to follow until Yoobin gave her a quiet nod. She walked to nowhere - a cobbled path down to the big cats - with Yoohyeon.

Now they stand a foot apart against the railings of a tiger enclosure with no tigers and only scattered dead leaves in sight. Yoohyeon hears the quiet stream of water in the enclosure and the light rustle of the grass when the wind picks up.

“It’s nice here,” Yoobin says. “I wish there were pandas.”

Yoohyeon hums in agreement and takes a long, deep breath. “Smells nature-y.”

“Better than the PC cafe.”

Yoohyeon doesn’t miss the teasing edge in Yoobin’s voice. She folds her arms on the railing to cushion her head.

“I missed you, too.”

“You guys were away so much,” she feels Yoobin move a little closer and smells the flowery conditioner on her hoodie. “I thought you went home at one point.”

Yoohyeon has gone past justifying her bad habits the same way she had stopped trying to get Siyeon to go to meetings and joined her instead. But when you’re told your dream is put on hold and that you’re waiting for yes’s and working for a maybe, it takes strength to keep going. She wanted to skip the time spent feeling lost and being a disappointment to her parents and wasting people’s money so she could get to the part where everything is solved and back to normal and they’re performing for their fans again. When Siyeon started hating music, she couldn’t help it either. She didn’t sing for a week.

Yoohyeon remembers her mom calling, voice full of comfort and worry and Yoohyeon never felt her failure harder.

Yoohyeon’s eyes sting. “I don’t think I can go home for a while.”

They let the wind whistle lightly through the trees, the breeze weaving through the branches down to the pavement where autumn leaves scratch and rustle as they’re carried away. Yoohyeon thinks this is another place where she can stay.

“When they told us we needed to go home, and that we didn’t have any schedules,” Yoobin’s voice is a low, comforting hum; a soft bell in the distance, a gentle press on a piano key. Easy to hear. “I was worried about everyone.” Yoobin doesn’t look at her as she talks. “The unnies and I worried about you and Siyeon-unnie.”

Yoohyeon reaches for Yoobin’s hand and wraps her fingers around Yoobin’s pinky. “I’m sorry.”

She holds her pinky for a little while until Yoobin moves her fingers to lock them with hers.

“I know,” Yoobin says, and of course she does. “You guys are just like the tigers. You need time.”

The tigers lay still in their chambers, keeping warm from the morning chill. Yoohyeon wants to hide just as much.

When her hand feels as warm as Yoobin’s, she tucks close against her, leans her head against Yoobin’s temple.

“I thought it was a mistake. Being put into the group. To joining the company, to auditioning, to trying to be an idol at all.”

Yoohyeon feels a hand, small on her back, and a firm grip around her shoulder. “I...I thought I was a mistake,” Her tongue feels heavier in her mouth now. “That we failed because we weren’t good enough. That I...”

At this point, if she was with anyone else, she would get a hug, a pat on the back or a word of reassurance that they’ll come back somehow or that some things don’t work out or to have faith. Comfort from people who live on the outside of their lives and can’t see the things she sees and hopes to blink away.

All Yoobin says is, “I know.”

The hand on her back presses away and the grip on her shoulder slides off, but the warmth stays.

Because Yoobin understands. The tigers still don’t come out and no one walks down their path and autumn leaves lay still in the cold of the morning and Yoohyeon is _still_ bitter. Yoobin understands. Yoobin doesn’t hug her. She doesn’t try to cheer her up or distract her or help her escape, like Yoohyeon would want, like Yoohyeon has been trying to do locking herself up with video games and Siyeon.

Yoobin doesn’t let her run away anymore, but she lets her breathe.

“...Yeah.”

They hear a rustling and a growl from the chambers below. From the makeshift cave, a bright-eyed cub wobbles out.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: this is in no way intended as speculation for what happened in their minx-dc re-debut period. I do not claim any of this happened nor do i think HFE actually work this way.
> 
> Thank u for reading!


End file.
